Darko Mrdja was accused of crimes against humanity, namely murder and inhumane acts. The Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia sentenced him to 17 years' imprisonment on 31 March 2004. Identity

• Darko Mrdja was born on 28 June 1967 in Zagreb, Croatia.
• In 1992, during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, he was a member of a special police unit, known as the « Intervention Squad », serving under the Bosnian Serb authorities in Prijedor.

Charges

• The indictment, confirmed by Judge Liu on 26 April 2002 against Mrdja, contained three counts: extermination as a crime against humanity; murder as a violation of the laws or customs of war; and inhumane acts as a crime against humanity.

Proceedings

• Darko Mrdja was arrested by SFOR on 14 June 2002 in Prijedor.
• On 17 June 2002, he appeared before the ICTY and entered a plea of not guilty.
• On 24 July 2003, Darko Mrdja entered into a plea agreement with the Prosecution. In accordance with the plea agreement, the Prosecution withdrew the charges under the first count of the indictment and Mrdja admitted responsibility for murder and inhumane acts (through attempted murder). He also agreed to cooperate with the Prosecution.

Chamber

• Judges : Alphons Orie, Presiding, Amin El Mahdi, Joaquín Martín Canivell.
• Prosecutor : Alan Tieger, Timothy J. Resch.
• Defence: Vojislav Dimitrijevic, Otmar Wachenheim.

Judgement

• Darko Mrdja acknowledged that the crimes to which he pleaded guilty were part of the widespread and systematic attack on the non-Serb civilian population of the municipality of Prijedor.
• He also acknowledged having personally and directly participated in the unloading, guarding, escorting, shooting, and killing of Muslim and other non-Serb civilians escorted from the Trnopolje camp in the direction of Travnik. Only 12 men survived the massacre.
• Considering the seriousness of the crime, the Trial Chamber emphasized the cruelty and inhumanity of the massacre that took the lives of around 200 civilians and inflicted considerable suffering upon the survivors and the victims\' families.
• Moreover, the Trial Chamber considered as an aggravating factor the vulnerability of the victims at the time of the commission of the crime. Darko Mrdja\'s position of authority as a policeman was also considered an aggravating factor, but of limited weight.
• In addition, the Trial Chamber took into account most of the mitigating factors put forth by the Defence: the substantial cooperation with the Prosecution, Darko Mrdja\'s guilty plea, his remorse, as well as his personal and family situation. However, his submissions with respect to duress were dismissed due to the Defence\'s failure to show that Darko Mrdja would have been killed or would have, at least, suffered serious consequences, had he not carried out the orders of his superiors. Finally, the Trial Chamber did not accept the fact that the accused adhered to superior orders as a mitigating factor (argument based on Article 7(4) of the Statute of the Tribunal). In its opinion, the orders Darko Mrdja acted on were so manifestly unlawful that he must have been well aware that they violated the most elementary laws of war and the basic dictates of humanity.
• Darko Mrdja was sentenced to 17 years\' imprisonment on 31 March 2004.
• Darko Mrdja was transferred to Spain to serve his sentence.